Like riding a bike – Jordan Cox unfazed by return to wicketkeeping with England

Jordan Cox sees only the upsides of being England’s wicketkeeper for the Test trip to New Zealand despite being a specialist batter for more than a year.

With Jamie Smith absent from the three-match tour starting in Christchurch on November 28 in order to be present for the birth of his first child, Cox has been chosen to don the gloves and bat at seven.

His last first-class outing juggling the dual demands was in July 2023 as a gruesome finger injury sustained the following month in The Hundred meant he was only available to bat for Essex this summer.

The returns were outstanding as Cox amassed 918 runs at a substantial average of 65.57 in the County Championship, including four centuries for his new county after making the move from Kent last winter.

Having diligently practised his glovework alongside Brendon McCullum in Pakistan recently, Cox is unfazed at his first three Test appearances being in a role he has been unfamiliar with for 15 months.

“Keeping for me is something that I absolutely loved,” he said. “I’ve kept since the age of 11 and then obviously I got that pretty nasty injury in The Hundred, which made me stop keeping for a year.

“Now it’s about building up. I’ve probably had three, four months of keeping again, so not long. But as people say, it’s like riding a bike.

“If you get into the team and you’re a good batter, if you can keep that’s awesome and it’s just another string to your bow. I will try my best to cement some sort of role in that team.”

Cox knows making a splash in New Zealand could give England welcome headaches going forward, with Smith almost certain to regain his spot in time for next summer’s blockbuster series against India.

Cox’s best route into the side long-term could be in the top six, with vice-captain Ollie Pope under the microscope following a boom-or-bust 2024 in which he has amassed three Test hundreds but 11 single-figure scores in 25 innings, while he returned just 55 runs in five knocks in the 2-1 loss to Pakistan.

Pope has been backed by McCullum and Ben Stokes and retained his spot to face the Black Caps, and Cox is aware the vagaries of elite-level cricket means gazing into a crystal ball is worthless.

“It’s professional sport, you never know what will happen,” Cox said.

“Let’s say Popey goes and scores three hundreds, let’s say I score a hundred and win the Test match, what happens there?”

While Cox is eager to do well, he does his best to stay pragmatic, an attitude he admitted can come across as “rude or arrogant, or that I don’t really care”.

Having made his T20 debut against Australia last month – an experience he revealed he “can’t really remember” as he “moves on quite quickly” – Cox is poised for his ODI debut in the Caribbean this week.

Cox could bat at three or four in Thursday’s first ODI against the West Indies, with Phil Salt set to keep wicket as Jos Buttler is sidelined for the three-match series due to a nagging calf injury.

England trained for the first time in Antigua on Tuesday and among the attendees was director of men’s cricket Rob Key, who engaged in a long conversation on the outfield with Jacob Bethell – the surprise inclusion in the Test squad to face New Zealand.

Barbados-born Bethell, who made his T20 and ODI debuts against Australia last month, has only featured in 20 first-class matches and has a modest batting average of 25.44, with five fifties and no hundreds.

However, England have once again plumped for potential in the Warwickshire all-rounder, who turned 21 last week and offers extra batting and spin cover, having shown glimpses of his talent in two T20s and five ODIs against Australia.

Bethell, Cox and leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed will join the Test team following the end of the Windies tour.